


window seat

by meshtams



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Boys In Love, Draco is gay, Harry is bi, Insomnia, M/M, Nightmares, Soft boys are soft, no caps, they both are just soft and cute and in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:13:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24584362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meshtams/pseuds/meshtams
Summary: harry can't sleep, Draco keeps falling asleep in the common room when no one else is around, blankets, sweaters, log fires and soft falling in love
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Comments: 2
Kudos: 162





	window seat

after the war, harry and ginny never got back together; it didn't feel right anymore. they kissed once, not long after the final battle, but it was incredibly awkward; after everything, they felt more like siblings than anything else. 

harry returned to hogwarts to complete his newts the following september, after having helped return the castle to its original state during the summer. it was hard being there, and he couldn't help that sometimes he couldn't enter the great hall without seeing rows of bodies in his mind's eye, but it was still his home, and the castle felt like a part of him. after everything that had happened, harry knew he no longer wanted to be an auror, but he had no idea what to do instead, so he continued taking the same classes he had started in sixth year. 

walking back into the castle on september first, harry shouldn't have been surprised to see draco malfoy perched awkwardly at the end of the eighth year table in the great hall, but he was. however, what surprised him more than malfoy's presence was the way he looked. malfoy had always been thin and angular, but now his cheeks were sunken and his head bowed. he looked even worse than he had during sixth year, and everyone else at the table was clearly avoiding sitting near him. harry didn't see malfoy eat at all during the feast, and as soon as they were shown to their new eighth year common room and single-room dormitories, he slipped silently into his own room and didn't appear to come out until the next morning. 

harry never saw malfoy in the common room. most of their year group spent time in there, even the other slytherins who had returned, millicent bulstrode and blaise zabini, took to sitting in the comfortable armchairs by the fire to study, but malfoy never did. or so harry thought. 

the first time he saw malfoy in the common room, he was surprised. they were already a month into the year, and it was 3 am. harry had had an awful nightmare. he couldn't get comfortable again in his dorm, and so had decided to sit in the common room and work on his homework, just for something to do. he didn't expect to walk down the stairs and see his ex-rival fast asleep on one of the window seats, an advanced potions textbook resting on his chest.

since the beginning of the year, malfoy seemed to have gained a bit of weight, and no longer looked so dangerously thin, but he was still much thinner than he should be, all sharp angles even in sleep. the only parts of him that seemed to have any semblance of softness were his hair, his lips, and the over-large green sweater he wore. in spite of the roaring fire in the hearth, and the weasley sweater he had on over his pyjamas, harry could feel the october chill creeping in through the windows.

'malfoy must be freezing', he thought to himself, and then wondered why he cared. though, then again, he had always cared, at least a little. even during sixth year, harry had never wanted to see malfoy hurt or unwell, even when he had made the horrible mistake of using a curse he knew nothing about on him. without even thinking, harry found himself seeking out the warmest blanket from the pile by the largest sofa and moving towards malfoy. he carefully removed the potions textbook from his chest and laid it on the end table closest to them, and gently wrapped the blanket around malfoy, before retreating to the sofa and grabbing another blanket for himself. 

a few hours later, harry had finished his essays for defense against the dark arts, transfiguration and charms, and the sun was beginning to rise. harry looked over to the windowseat malfoy occupied and saw the blond begin to stir. not wanting to make malfoy feel uncomfortable if he woke to find harry so close, he quickly folded his blanket and put it away, and then began to gather his things. he made it to his room without disturbing the other boy, and then grabbed his shower things and clean clothes and headed back out and towards the bathrooms. as he walked carefully past the common room and towards the bathroom, he saw malfoy looking confusedly between the blanket still wrapped around him and his textbook with sleep-bleary grey eyes. he must have seen harry moving, as he looked up sharply and made eye contact with him. harry's breath caught slightly in his chest as nodded lightly and carried on towards the bathroom, his head filled with silver eyes and the softness of malfoy's morning expression. 

for almost a week, harry found himself heading down to the common room in the wee hours of the morning each day, and without fail, he saw malfoy curled up on the same window seat, fast asleep, usually without a blanket and with a textbook resting on his chest. on one occasion, harry found him fast asleep and covered in ink, an almost empty inkwell clutched in one slender hand and a broken quill in the other, a half-finished arithmancy essay beside him. he almost laughed, but managed to surpress it into a simple grin before casting a series of gentle spells to return most of the ink to the bottle, clean up the stains and fix the quill. 

this pattern was broken when, one day, harry made his way down the stairs and into the common room at 2 am to see malfoy still awake, curled up with his potions textbook in his lap. as light as harry's footsteps were, they were still loud enough to be heard above the light crackling of the fire, and malfoy looked up as he approached. 

"hi." harry's voice was barely above a whisper as he made his way across the common room to grab two blankets, wrapping the thinner one around his own shoulders with one hand as he made his way over towards malfoy. he passed the thicker blanket to him and said "here, you'll get cold." his voice still low and his cheeks warm. 

harry settled himself into the armchair closest to malfoy's window seat and untucked his defence textbook from under his arm when malfoy spoke "is it you who keeps putting this over me, then?" 

"uh, yeah." harry was uncomfortable. he was expecting the worst, expecting to be shouted at or insulted. 

instead, malfoy's voice was softer than harry had ever heard it as he said "thank you."

"oh, uhm, no problem, malfoy." harry smiled slightly at the blond before settling himself, cross legged, to study. 

the following few days, harry made his way down a little earlier, settling himself in his armchair and having similar breif interactions with malfoy and once or twice falling asleep to the sound of the other boys breathing and the crackling wood fire. it became a ritual, he would get both of them blankets, settle down close by and they would both study or sleep. it was clear that neither of them slept too well anymore, sometimes waking the other up with loud nightmares that cut through the silence of the night, or waking up multiple times during the night, but after being as involved in such an awful war as the pair of them had been, it was hardly surprising that they didn't make it out unscathed. what was surprising, however, was how easily they became comfortable with one anothers presence. soft hellos were exchanged almost nightly, along with the occasional study tip or question if they were working on the same essays. 

a few weeks in, however, harry was woken up by the sound of a gutteral scream, worse than he had heard from malfoy before, regardless of how many times he had been awoken from his light slumber by the other boy's nightmares. he instantly shot to his feet and made his way over to the window seat, leaning over and resting one hand on malfoy's leg.

"hey, malfoy, wake up, you're having a nightmare." his voice was still low, but slightly louder than it usually was. 

"shit!" malfoy sat up, almost bashing his head into harry's before he was able to move back. malfoy's breathing was heavy as he pulled his legs up towards his chest. 

harry sat himself in the space malfoy's feet had vacated and again rested one hand on his leg. "it's alright, you're alright." he rubbed the flat of his palm lightly up and down the side of malfoy's calf. "do you want to talk about it?" 

"just... memories. of sharing a house with... him...." malfoy's voice broke slightly. 

"hey, it's alright. you don't have to go through that again, yeah?" his hand never left malfoy's leg. "you're gonna be alright, malfoy." 

"would you.. would you not call me that?" he averted his eyes and looked down at the floor. "it's just, my surname is a tie to my father, and although i know he loves me, its his fault that i have..." he looked distainfully down at his left arm, covered by his sweater sleeve, "this on my arm." his voice got lower and lower as he spoke, the last two words coming out as little more than a broken whisper. 

"sure. no problem, draco." harry let his hand rest on the blonds ankle, and recieved a small, genuine smile in return. 

"thanks, harry." 

following that encounter, harry and draco found themselves more often than not curling up on the window seat together, talking, and usually by the morning, draco's feet would be in harry's lap, one of harry's hands rubbing gently up and down draco's long legs. they spoke about difficult topics, like the war, and also about lighter topics, such as their favourite quidditch teams (draco was a falcons fan, but ever since ginny had been recruited to play for the harpies in the summer, harry had been a strong supporter of them.)

the night that harry told draco about his childhood was difficult. harry had fallen asleep, sat upright beside draco, and had had a nightmare about being locked in his cupboard for weeks on end. draco had woken him up, moving closer and shaking his shoulder lightly as harry had called out in his sleep "please, aunt petunia!" as soon as harry opened his eyes, they filled with tears and draco had wrapped his arms around harry. harry had broken down and told draco all about how he was raised, how he would be locked in a cupboard for days on end and not given food, how he had to cook and clean for the family from the time he was able to walk, and how before starting school he hadn't realized he had a name other than "freak" or "boy". 

draco had held him tightly and had whispered in his ear "i'll kill them for you, the bastards." making harry laugh wetly. 

as the weeks went on, the boys grew closer and closer, and by mid december, draco found himself practically sat on harry's lap almost every night, their arms wrapped around one another and their voices low. 

one night, draco was sitting almost on top of harry, his oversized sweater slipping down off of one shoulder, and harry reached up without thinking, brushing his fingertips across draco's sharp collarbone, and following it up to his neck. the skin beneath his hand was warm and soft as silk, and as pale as milk. draco gasped lightly as harry moved his hand up and ran his fingers across the taller boy's sharp jawline. harry looked up and made eye contact, green meeting silver in the firelight, and he used his free hand to pull draco's leg over him until the blond was sitting astride his lap. his eyes flickered down to look at draco's lips. 

"don't... not, not if you don't mean it." draco's voice was fragile as glass, insecure but gentle and wanting. 

"i mean it." harry whispered as he pressed his lips to draco's, the hand that was pressed to his jaw moving to thread through his fine blond hair. 

the kiss was soft and chaste, but filled with love and over far too quick for harry before draco was pulling back and looking down at harry. 

"why?" draco's voice was still fragile and insecure. 

"draco..." harry pulled draco towards him, embracing him gently. "you're everything to me, ok? you're so beautiful, and sweet, even if you pretend not to be, and you're funny without even trying, i always thought so, even before." he pressed another soft kiss to draco's lips. "i'm so in love with you that it's crazy." he laughed a little.

"oh." draco initiated the kiss this time, just a quick press of the lips. "i love you, too."


End file.
